07 Cape Fear 1000

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Ride Report Cape Fear 1000

I have wanted to do a road rally ever since I read the blogs about the 2005 Iron Butt Rally. Its that 11K miles in 11 days rally that Iron Butt Association has every 2 years. I guess it is really hard to get into the rally, there are a long applicants and only a limited number of spots. I am not up for that kind of extreme riding anyway. But since I had read those blogs I had been interested in doing one of those kind of rallies.

I have been looking for one that is in the Midwest, but the closest ones are either in WI or TX. I was going to do the one in TX, its called the TX 2step. But then this year they didn’t hold it, so…. The next best one started in Cairo IL of course it ended in Wilmington, NC. I decided to go for it. The rally is called the Cape Fear 1000. www.capefear1000.com This was the second year for it. I learned about the rally as a lurker on the LDRider list. Registration on these things is usually open to the previous entriants first then it opens for the general riding public. So as soon as it was truely an open registration I jumped on it and registered. So I make all the reservations for hotels at the start and the finish.

The way this rally works is the Rally Master, more frequently referred to as the Rally Bastard is in charge. These rallies are really unique. Its almost like you sign up for the abuse. The game inundates you with information. Being new, I didn’t know what was note worthy information and what was not worthy information. If you ask a question that has the answer posted somewhere you will get replies that are short tempered. But in my case, I didn’t know enough to ask the question when the answer was sent out, so when I saw it didn’t mean anything. By the time I start to understand the issues I need to worry about the answers are out there but I don’t remember where or if I saw it before. They have the website and it links you to other websites and then there is the email list and they mail and email info. Of course the veteran riders use the list to scam the less experienced, its all part of the game. If you bite one of the scams then the RM sends you one of those ‘I’m going to try and not scream at you butt….’ Emails. And every one here uses butt instead of but. Because of the association most all of us have with the Iron Butt Association. The IBA is an international organization of long distance riders. Membership is free but you have to have a certified ride of 1000 miles in 24 hours to be accepted into the membership.

Back to the rally process; the RM sends a list of bonus locations, each with a point value which is determined on how hard it is to get to and find. You make a route picking the bonuses along the way that you think will get you the most points. Once we leave Cairo we have 26 hours to get to Wilmington. Now there is a ton of documentation that happens for the start and each bonus.. I got a Rally flag in the mail with #39 on it so that is used in photographs at many of the bonuses I chose. The game is to follow the direction for each bonus to the letter, cold, wet, tired, distracted, or in a hurry, it doesn’t matter, nothing but the exact requirement will be counted. This is where the Rally Bastard part comes in. Because any short coming and the bonus is not counted and the staff take special joy in discounting bonuses and in the misery the rally has caused the rider. Its really weird. This is a group of NO WHINERS. The bonuses though are places of interest for the most part and I want to go to many more than I have time for. The bonus listing was emailed to the participants on Wednesday night (18APR07) the rally starts on Friday @ noon. The bonus listing is 16 pages long. I have less than 12 hours to find a route I like using these bonuses before I need to leave in the morning.

So Cairo is a little over 400 miles from KC. I head out of KC on Thursday 19APR07 and meet a bunch of the other riders at the hotel that night. I stayed at the Days Inn in Sikeston, MO. Cairo is a little rough, I don’t think any of the riders stayed there. I think about 20-25 riders started from Cairo. I am the only Sporty I see. But I have never seen so many Buells! I knew I was in my element when I saw several bikes with small pelican boxes RAM mounted to the handlebars. Not one person asked me what it was for. One guy says something about the sportster, like its hopeless kind of attitude. He was probably right, using a Sporty for the Cape fear would not improve my chances, but choice of bike is not the deciding factor for the winner. I have read about guys with much more appropriate choice of rides doing very poorly at one of these rallies because of other errors. I happened to mention to him that my bike carried my fat ass everywhere I pointed it. Last year that was over 42K miles and we had won the ABC’s of Touring challenge that Harley offered. I told a couple other guys as we were standing around and talking that is the only time I mentioned it, but for the rest of the rally, I had guys coming up and asking if I was the one with the Sportster. Or if that was THE sportster.

The start was in Cairo so about 11AM I could not take waiting around the hotel anymore and I headed out to Cairo. Stopping of course to take some ABC’s of Touring photos at IL and KY state lines. We had to have a receipt stamped with the time, date and location to verify we were where we were supposed to be at the start of the rally. The time on the receipt had to be between 12:50 and 1:10PM EST. All times for the rally are recorded in EST. I used the ATM machine at a convenience store, twice. The first time I jumped the gun and the receipt was 4 minutes early.

I think we all went to the same first bonus which was the Woolridge Monuments. They are in a cemetery in Mayfield KY. So Col Woolridge has this vision to get all these statues of family, friends and misc together. He is the only one buried in the cemetery. Being an avid hunter his statues include deer and dogs… there are 18 of the statues. I don’t speed so I thought I would be left in the dust by these bikes, but there are still 2 riders there when I get there. The bonus after that was the Jefferson Davis memorial in Fairview KY. Jefferson Davis was the only president of the Confederacy. He was born here but moved to MS while still an infant. This monument is HUGE. 321 feet tall, you can see from quite a distance, it is on a hill too. So the bonus is to get a picture of the monument, the flag and your bike altogether. I parked off in a parking lot at the bottom of the hill and went for a distance shot, but to do that I had to lay on the pavement, while other riders there chose to go to the base of the monument and take a picture straight up while they also laid on the pavement. The ride in these areas have been great, the mornings are nippy and I put my muffs over the hand controls so I don’t have to wear gloves, I know the trip over the blue ridge mountains will be cold as I will see them after dark. After Fairview I headed to Lebanon TN. They have the Confederate Veterans Memorial. Its in the middle of a big roundabout in the center of town. On the way to this bonus I keep getting passed by another rider. It’s the same guy. I don’t know why but about every 15 minutes he passes me. I am feeling like the tortuous and the hare. Anyway when I get to Lebanon, I have my pic and am filling out my riders log with the info, I’m about ready to pack up and go when here he comes again. His GPS had routed it up 2 exists and then back tracked. Shortly after leaving that bonus he goes flying by me for the last time. I stopped in Oak Ridge TN for a receipt from that town and then it was off to Chestnut Hill TN. There is a Bush’s Best factory there. This bonus was to find the general merchandise store and take a picture of the sign under the awning. This is one that was a little tricky. The info that they left out of the bonus info was that the store hasn’t been open in 7 years. I ended up going to the factory and talking to the security guard who pointed at the building. I had been searching for it for 15 minutes. By the time I get to it there is another rally bike there, a 2-up team and we exchange greetings, they pose for a picture and provided the head light that we use for the picture of the sign. They were heading north to Bristol for receipts while my next bonus was south. I’m heading to SC the town of 96 to a National Historic Site there. By now its cold and I am cold. I am in the mountains, running on these back highways waiting to become one with a frigging deer, freezing. I had gotten a chill on Thursday morning and it was in my bones. I get back to the interstate and head to Ashville NC. By the time I get there its 12:20am. There is a 4 hour rest bonus if taken between midnight and 6 am, its worth 7500 points. So everyone takes it because about midnight every one is close enough that the bonuses are now time restricted and not eligible to get until 7 am Saturday morning anyway, plus who can throw out a 7500 point bonus.

I should have known better but I stopped at drive thru Mickey Ds for a hamburger and a time, date and location stamped receipt then proceed to find a motel. I am miserable. Using the GPS I find the Rockola motel. This place is bad,but its ONLY $40 a night. Everywhere else was $30 more at least. The toilet overflows when I flushed it the first time. The main room doesn’t have a working light and the door had a big chunk of it that was just duct tape. Oh yes, lets not forget, there is no heat. Its 40F outside and in. I called the manager and told him the bathroom was flooded, but I stopped it and I was going to bed, but they would have a mess in the morning to clean up here. I don’t even take off my boots. There is no way I am getting comfortable here, so I lay on top of the bed and I am out. I get my wake up call at 4:30am. This motel does not have a computer that calls you. It’s the night manager that has a list and he calls. Shortly after I am heading out. It is frigging cold. I stop for gas and start to leave the city, but then I think maybe my receipt has to be from the same place. So I go to the same McDonalds and to say the service is slow is an understatement. I have to wait for the girl that takes the orders to make the tea. I am the only one in line and I wait 15 minutes for her to come to the window. I order a small coke and get my receipt. I drop the coke in my saddle bag, I have a spot that I can sit a coke in and it will stay upright and keep it cold. I had 128 mile to the NHS and it was the worst. 2 coats, rain gear, heated hand grips, full face helmet and I am miserable. Its that chill, I haven’t been warm in 2 days. I get to the NHS and I got to go to the bathroom. I couldn’t use the one at the hotel, and I GOT TO GO! I am at the NHS at 7:30am and it opens at 8. I am to the point that I know I am not going to be able to get back on the bike. Finding a gas station is not an option. The bathrooms are locked, so I go the visitor center and tap on the window until and annoyed ranger comes to the door to tell me off. Then he unlocks the bathrooms. I haven’t seen another motorcycle since I started this morning.

My next stop is a house in a city park. Camden SC it’s a revolutionary war site. They are having a festival at the park today. A band is playing and there are a lot of people, so I pull up and fill out my riders log. Next is the Darlington Raceway Museum. It was uneventful. Except there was the woman there with 3 teenagers, all of them hers I think. They were heckling each other and snipping at each other, the woman did real good for about 5 minutes then she just broke loose on them. They all were quite after that.

I am running late now so I skip the Dizzy Gillespie statue in Cheraw SC, which is why I chose to come this way anyway. But I skip it and head on the South of the Border, it’s a amusement park, tourist trap kind of thing at the NC SC border. If you have ever traveled I-95 in that area you have to know what I am talking about it uses every bulletin board on I-95 for 20 miles in SC. The bonus is for the giant Pedro at the gas station. For the first time today I see other ralliers. These are 10 hour min-ralliers though. The Rally Master runs a shorter rally for the people that live in the area. I then head to the Ewell Ferry and skip the next bonus, I’m still running late. I headed on to the finish line and cross it 12 minutes before I am due. 26 hours, 948 miles. I am tired, grungy and hungry. I am also slightly demoralized. One of the bonus was to bring an ice cold six pack of your favorite beverage. I had brought a cooler from KS, picking up a six pack at a gas station it was nicely iced down. Not normally a beer drinker I had been thinking about that ice cold beer I was carrying and I was eagerly awaiting a hot shower followed by an ice cold beer. But at the finish line by beer was liberated from the bike and my chances of having one after my shower was nil.

After checking in at the finish line, I check into the motel, which was convienently at the same place. Among all the bikes Harleys are not popular, BMWs, Buells and those weird looking ones are. I am the ONLY sporty. So I shower and then do all my documentation. My goals for the rally were simple; to complete it, not get disqualified, not loose any points for my own errors, have fun. So I am going over and over the documentation. The game is for the rally krewe to catch errors and not count the bonuses. There is no second chances. Once you agree to be scored, then you can’t go get something you forgot, or add that note you forgot to write in the log…If it isn’t right you are screwed. So we go through the scoring process and I don’t loose any points. Last year one guy forgot his time in card from when he crossed the finish line, after going through the previous 26 hours he was DNF Did Not Finish. This year Sal who came in 73rd of 82 lost all of his photo bonuses because he had not written the date on his bonus photos. You had to write date, time, odometer, place on each photo.

The one thing that I thought was really good was the RM was anal about you had to call in if you were going to be really late. Otherwise someone was going out after you. If you broke down you were to call. As he said the resources and contacts he and the rally Krewe have can probably solve your immediate issue.

The banquet was funny. Its filled with people who have barely slept for the last couple days, most have not eaten at all on since 1PM the previous day its now 7PM and there is all the beer you would care to drink. They bring in Sticky Finger Catering and they serve the best BBQ. NC has GREAT BBQ. Way different than KC BBQ, I like it too but NC is better. We have pulled pork, ribs and baked chicken. Everything is great. Most people go back for 3rds. And there is still food left over. Everyone would have been asleep on the floor except that it was 40F in the banquet room. You stayed awake shivering. This group of people were really neat to be around. They are a very inclusive group. The RM read the names of the finishers. Of the 82 that started 80 riders finish. When they get to my name the RM says he heard this was my first rally and I am to be congratulated on doing so well. I was 54th.

This thing was so much fun! I would like to do another one, but one closer. The next morning I am up at 5:30am its 42F and I am riding home. There were supposed to be thunderstorms in KS and MO on Sunday night and Monday. I called a friend and asked her to check the KC weather and let me know. I didn’t hear from her, so I figure I will just head out and ride until its wet and dark and then finish the next day. Well it never rained. I got to KC at 6:30am Monday morning. By the time I got tired I was too close to pay for a motel. The GPS for some reason kept routing back the way I came, so by the time I caught it I had wasted time and miles. It was over 1200 miles home. That was the pits. The rally was a blast but the ride home was LONG.

Effies odometer is now at over 73K miles.

This was the first of endurance rally I have ridden in, here are blogs on rallies I have ridden in since.
08 NSR 08 Not Superman Rally
09 NSR 09 Not Superman Rally

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Photos

Start at Cairo IL
I snapped this picture at the gas station as we were all standing around talking bikes and experinces.

The Millers
They were gracious enough to pose for a picture at the Bush's Best factory store.

The 96 National Historic Site
This location also provided a much needed bathroom break.

Pedro
This is at South of the Border at the NC and SC border right off I-95.

My Desk at the Motel
The Rally was HQ'd at the Green Tree Inn in Wilmington. They were great to deal with. This picture shows all the documentation I needed to turn in.

ABC's are always on my mind.
So of course throughout the rally I am stopping for some ABC shots.

RKS Crab Orchard
My HOG group is having a Road Kill Safari this year. You take pics of towns named after animals with the little plastic animal they give you. So Crab Orchard, TN was scored in my travels to NC.

Comments

[Sharing the Journey]

Cape Fear
Jim Bain is trying to get me to run in it in 2010. I might do it. Alec